We Are the World is a 1985 charity single recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa to raise money for the 1983 to 1985 famine in Ethiopia. Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote it, and Quincy Jones produced it. The idea came after the British group Band Aid released Do They Know It's Christmas? in 1984, and Harry Belafonte wanted an American version. Jackson and Richie finished writing the song the night before the first recording session in January 1985. Many of the era's best-known artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and Tina Turner, recorded it together. Released in March 1985, it topped charts worldwide and became the fastest-selling US pop single, and it has sold more than 20 million physical copies. It raised more than 80 million dollars for humanitarian aid, and a new version followed the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.